The First Doctor Tarot, Seasons 3-4

I'm going to just let these speak for themselves. There are many missing episodes, and that increases the difficulty of trying to pick images; but the meanings are pretty clear, I think.

T. Galaxy 4: Tifireth
Meaning: Beauty

DC. Mission to the Unknown: The Devil
Meaning: Preconceptions, Binding, Adversarial Power

U. The Myth Makers: Judgement
Meaning: Punishment and Reward, Rebirth

V. The Daleks' Master Plan: The Hanged Man
Meaning: Sacrifice, Dedication

W. The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve: Justice
Meaning: Responsibility, Guilt, Fairness

X. The Ark: The Tower
Meaning: Upheaval, Sudden Change, Shattered Illusions

Y. The Celestial Toymaker: Kether
Meaning: Crown

The god of his own little realm...

Z. The Gunfighters: Netzach
Meaning: Victory

AA. The Savages: Temperance
Meaning: Balance, Moderation, Compromise

BB. The War Machines: Strength
Meaning: Courage, Patience, Control

CC. The Smugglers: Chesed
Meaning: Mercy

DD. The Tenth Planet: Death
Meaning: Transformation, Endings and Beginnings

And there you have it! There are a few forced correspondences, but I was actually surprised how well the majority of the stories fitted.

Next Time:
May and Isaac have both decided to skip doing reviews, having found out quite how much work it is (and with still quite a bit to fit in during the last week of the holiday), so I'm going to plough on with my own reviews.

Dust and Death.

The First Doctor Tarot, Season 2

OK, it was harder this time to find appropriate images. Last time many just fell into my lap - I mean, the Emperor and Empress are just perfect - but this time it's a case of what can I get that vaguely appropriate in a ten-minute search for many. Ah well.

J. Planet of Giants: Binah
Meaning: Understanding

A stretch, perhaps, but there is a thread running through the story that matches.

K. The Dalek Invasion of Earth: The World
Meaning: Completion, Closure, Accomplishment

Of course, it had to be really. The Earth, the World, the end of Susan's story...

Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150AD: Yesod
Meaning: Foundation

Really, the closest I could get to duplicating the TV meaning without all the completion aspect.

L. The Rescue: The Star
Meaning: Hope, Trust, Renewal

Elizabeth Sandifer used to describe Vicki as a "star child" - and she fits this card perfectly in this story.

M. The Romans: The Sun
Meaning: Fun, Comfort, Success

I could have gone for two images: Iananbarbara relaxing, which better matched the meaning, or Nero being all sun Emperor.

N. The Web Planet: The High Priestess
Meaning: Intuition, the Subconscious

Nope, couldn't find a decent image. The meaning isn't a straightforward match, but I think it works well if you look behind the obvious.

 P. The Crusade: Malkuth
Meaning: Kingdom

Um, yeah, this is me being shallow with the meaning.

Q. The Space Museum: The Wheel
Meaning: Cycles, Turning Points, Lack of Purpose

Apathy and revolution!

R. The Chase: The Lovers
Meaning: Choice, Union

Of course.

S. The Time Meddler: The Hermit
Meaning: Time, Introspection, Obstinacy

And again, what else?

Next Time:
The First Doctor Tarot, Seasons 3-4.

The First Doctor Tarot, Season 1

This is kind of a random miniseries of posts, just because the idea popped into my head one night recently while I was having trouble getting to sleep. I'm not actually a believer in divination of any sort, but I am nevertheless interested in much of the symbolism involved - and I do believe that Jan Woudhuysen got it right when he said that the tarot can be used as a mirror to give our conscious minds access to the subconscious. Basically, how we interpret a spread of cards can give us insight with no mysticism required.

This, however, isn't even going that deep. It's just a bit of fun to see if I can match up cards to serials.

The observant reader will notice that there is a fundamental problem with this, namely that there are 29 Hartnell serials and only 22 Major Arcana. What I have done is to add in the ten sephiroth of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life (which has been associated with the tarot since the days of the Golden Dawn), giving 32 possibilities; I've then split serial A into the first episode (An Unearthly Child) and The Tribe of Gum, and added the two Cushing movies. Simple.

On to the tarot associations, then, with a few comments. Enjoy!

A(i). An Unearthly Child: The Fool
Meaning: Beginnings, Innocence, Spontaneity

It is, of course, virtually compulsory to begin any tour of the Major Arcana with The Fool; but fortunately, in the figure of the unearthly child - the version of Susan that disappeared from the program all too soon - we have the perfect representation.

A(ii). The Tribe of Gum: The Magician
Meaning: The Trickster, Skill, Resourcefulness

The Magician is the next card, and happily matches up well with the figure of the Doctor in the rest of serial A. What else could the man who brings fire to the tribe and transports his kidnap victims through time be but a magician?

B. The Daleks: The Chariot
Meaning: Triumph, Control, the Will

Surely a chariot is a kind of travel machine? And the daleks are all about control.

Dr Who and the Daleks: Hod
Meaning: Splendour

This is the first of the non-tarot associations. What is most different about the film version of the story for many people, myself included, is that it is in vibrant, startling colour. Hence, splendour.

C. The Edge of Destruction: The Moon
Meaning: Illusion, Anxiety, Insecurity, the Subconscious

Seriously, with those meanings, do I need to say anything?

D. Marco Polo: The Emperor
Meaning: Order, Authority

The overt reasoning is obvious, but the story is also all about authority, about who is in charge.

E. The Keys of Marinus: The Hierophant
Meaning: Patience, Analytical Intelligence

I mean, good grief, those Marinusians have patience in abundance! And there's a fair degree of analysis going on, particularly during The Velvet Web and the last couple of episodes.

F. The Aztecs: The Empress
Meaning: Sensuality, Fertility, Abundance

I could go on about how the Aztec blood sacrifices were to keep the gods happy and keep the land fertile and abundant; but really, let's be honest, it's all about Barbara as Yetaxa.

G. The Sensorites: Chokhmah
Meaning: Wisdom

This is a cerebral story, and it's not too much of a stretch to read it as being about wisdom, who makes use of it, and who doesn't.

H. The Reign of Terror: Gevurah
Meaning: Severity

In contrast, this serial starts with the Doctor chucking out Iananbarbara in a fit of pique, in the midst of a particularly violent setting governed by people whose judgements were pretty darn harsh.

Next Time:
The First Doctor Tarot, Season 2.